Public Relations
by QueenofConstellations
Summary: Rugus Scrimgeour has chosen the new Head Boy and Girl to be the faces of Inter-House Unity. Hermione and Draco are going to have to call a truce to make sure the papers don't catch them doing anything...anything they shouldn't.


A/N: I've had the itch to start a new fanfiction for a long time, but every time I start one, I erase it or save it and banish it to a place far away from me. However, I've been scrolling through Instagram, and a particular Dramione page (dramione_heaven69) has given me all kinds of feels. So, here I am…hopefully you'll read this because I decided to post it.

Chapter One: September 1

"Headmistress, I'm not sure I understand –"

"Miss Granger, I have tried to work this out in your favor; believe me, I understand your history, but there was simply nothing I could do. This was an order directly from the Minister himself," Minerva McGonagall fixed her hat atop her graying curls and turned to her protégée. "Try to see this in a positive way."

Hermione spluttered, unable to think of any response that she could say that didn't include some sort of offensive language. "There are no positive angles to this, Headmistress."

"You get to be Head Girl now, don't you?" McGonagall said curtly. "Frankly, I hoped that would be enough to satisfy you. The Minister is not budging. He believes Inter-House Unity is the thing that will usher in the next generation of witches and wizards. I happen to agree."

"But you want me to work with…"

"I understand your revulsion, Miss Granger, but honestly, Mr. Malfoy has changed quite a bit since the war ended. You do know that he was on your side, correct?" McGonagall gave her a glare over her spectacles. "For the sake of the rest of the students at Hogwarts, try to contain yourself."

"Headmistress!"

McGonagall paused in her walking to turn to Hermione. "You will have your own dormitory to yourselves, you will plan events for the younger students and yourselves, you will chaperone and do rounds, and a little bit of publicity, there is really nothing to it," she said.

"Publicity?"

Her Headmistress had the decency to look a little abashed. "This was the Minister's idea. He wants you two to be the face of acceptance."

"Well, I refuse to accept this."

McGonagall pursed her lips. "Well, unless you want someone else to be Head Girl, you don't have a choice," she paused, taking in her favorite student's expression. "There was nothing I could do," she said again.

"I see you guys are having this talk too," said a slow drawl from behind Hermione. She whirled around, a little too quickly for her liking, and fixed Malfoy with a narrow-eyed glare.

"I don't know how your father bought you the Head Boy position, but he should probably sell it back," she snapped. "Give it to someone who deserves it."

"Miss Granger, now is not the time," said McGonagall, who registered Malfoy's momentarily vulnerable face. "You guys are going to be in a press conference in a few minutes, please contain yourselves."

"A press conference?!" Hermione squeaked. 

"For the brightest witch of the age, you sure are slow," Malfoy replied under his breath. He ran his fingers through his hair, making the messy looks look purposefully jagged, and tightening his tie. Hermione self-consciously looked down at her own t-shirt and jeans and frowned.

"Relax, Miss Granger, all you have to do is stand there. The Minister will do all the talking," McGonagall said, her hand firmly clasped around Hermione's shoulder, as though she was afraid she would run.

"How long until Hogsmeade?" Malfoy asked.

"About ten minutes," McGonagall responded. With a nod, Malfoy excused himself from the Heads compartment. Hermione sank into a blue seat and put her head in her hands. Headmistress McGonagall did not say anything, but slipped out the door too.

A few minutes later, the door was sliding open again, and Harry and Ron were beside her.

"We heard that you have to be the poster child for loving Draco Malfoy," Harry said playfully, poking Hermione in the side. "Come on, we fought Voldemort. It's not like this is going to be hard for you."

She groaned and pushed his hand away from her tickle spot. "This is Malfoy we're talking about."

Ron grumbled next to her. Harry turned to him with an amused smile. "Calm down, Ron. Hermione hates Malfoy, remember?"

Hermione, knowing there was no use in talking to Ron when he was making animal noises, turned to Harry. "What's wrong with him."

"Your boyfriend is upset that you're going to be living with Malfoy because he's scared that you're going to fall in lurrrve with him or something," Harry said, making googly eyes in Ron's direction to make him laugh. Ron did not laugh.

"Please, Weasel, use common sense," said Malfoy's drawling voice from the compartment door. "Does that really sound realistic to you?"

Before Hermione could grab Ron's arm, he was upright and in Malfoy's face. "You would be lucky to have a woman like Hermione, you ferret," he spat. "Stay away from her."

"Well, if I'd be lucky to have her," Malfoy said with a sneer, "Then maybe I should get a little…bit…closer, right, Weasel?"

Even though he didn't move, Hermione recoiled from him and Ron lunged in his direction. Harry, already well attuned to Ron's quick anger, leaped forward and grabbed him by the upper arms.

"Yes, let Pothead hold you back," Malfoy smirked. "While you two hold each other, I'll just cozy up to your girlfriend." This time, he did move, but he took a seat beside Hermione with plenty of space between them. However, just this simple move made Ron's ears tint red.

"That's enough, Ronald," Hermione protested. "He's just trying to get to you."

Malfoy raised his eyebrows in acknowledgement.

"Just ignore the ferret in the room," she continued, leaning back into the compartment and momentarily forgetting her nervousness.

Malfoy squinted at her. "Easy for you to say, beaver."

"In case you hadn't noticed, Malfoy, my teeth are fine now," she said, once again turning back to her friends, who had started to settle onto the seats beside her.

"Actually, I try not to look at you, Granger, so I hadn't noticed," Malfoy replied, turning away from her as well. It seemed their childish anger had fizzled out, at least for now.

Ron's anger, however, simmered just below the surface, and he watched Malfoy carefully out of the corner of his eye. Hermione, noticing his eye, smacked his arm and shook her head. They rode the uncomfortable silence for a few minutes before Headmistress McGonagall pulled the door open and surveyed the four teenagers sitting cross-armed, staring forward.

"Mr. Malfoy, Miss Granger," she said, holding out her hands. Hermione felt all of the butterflies that had settled in her belly take flight again, and even Malfoy looked a little nervous. "Remember," McGonagall said as she pushed them toward the train's exit. "Just stand there and smile."

And suddenly there were tons of flashing lights blocking their vision, and voices were yelling at them to turn, to smile, to wave, and tons of commands that Hermione couldn't even begin to follow. McGonagall led them to a corner of a small raised stage, where a podium and a microphone were left standing. As Hermione's vision started to clear, she saw the form of Rufus Scrimgeour take the podium.

"Witches and wizards," he began, his altered voice booming through the speakers. "We welcome you to the first new school year of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry without the threat of You-Know-Who looming over us. Now, the threat of blood supremacy and the Death Eaters has been eradicated."

Riotous applause rang out, and Hermione felt Malfoy tense beside her. She turned to look at him curiously and caught a glimpse of his tightened jaw and stony expression.

"To mark this momentous occasion, we are implementing Inter-House Unity at Hogwarts, and we hope that the rest of the Wizarding World will follow suit. May I present our new Head Boy and Girl, Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger. Both represent two very different experiences and cultural stigmas of the wizarding world, but both are the brightest of their year and their generation."

This time, it was Malfoy who turned to her and gave her a smirk, as though she didn't know that he was second in the class behind her. She rolled her eyes and took a half step away from him.

"We hope that through uniting these two young people, and through the unity they will spread through Hogwarts, that we can finally end blood supremacy and join together. Only then can the true healing begin."

As abruptly as he came on stage, Scrimgeour was gone, walking through the crowd of reporters, and Headmistress McGonagall was back, grabbing Hermione and Malfoy and moving them through the reporters as well.

"Mr. Malfoy! Mr. Malfoy! How did you feel when you found out your father was killed in Azkaban?"

Hermione turned to Malfoy, her eyes wide, and was surprised to see a painful grimace on his face that looked a lot like tears.

"Miss Granger! How did you explain to your parents that you took away their memories?"

"Mr. Malfoy! Where are you going to work after graduation if, like you said, you refuse to take over Malfoy Enterprises?"

"Mr. Malfoy! Miss Granger! Mr. Malfoy!"

The reporters' voices started to fall away as the gates of Hogwarts loomed closer. With a swish of her wand, McGonagall entered through the very gates without opening them, dragging Malfoy and Hermione behind her.

"So very rude!" she huffed. "Asking children questions like those."

"It's not like they haven't asked those questions before," Malfoy said quietly. Hermione turned to him, but was unwilling to speak. "What are you looking at, Granger? I'm not your blithering little boyfriend, I don't need you to make it better."

"Not like I would, Malfoy," she spat back.

"Children, please!" McGonagall held up her hand at the Head Boy and Girl, who halted in front of her. "You are both going to be watched very closely this year. Might I suggest you two call some sort of truce, at least while in public?"

"You mean publicly be his friend?" Hermione asked, aghast.

"Yes, Miss Granger. Or else your lives will be much harder," the Headmistress said. "The Ministry is interfering at Hogwarts, and you can expect them to be there all year. You might as well get used to it."

Hermione and Malfoy glanced at each other. They were never going to get used to this.


End file.
